


How Things Start

by cutiifly



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles X
Genre: ANYWAY THIS WAS FUN IM GLAD I FINALLY WROTE THIS ONE OUT, F/F, THIS IS SO GAY AAAAAAA, why are u friends with gwin pip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2019-01-01 00:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12144543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutiifly/pseuds/cutiifly
Summary: Pip Cross, swamped with repairwork post NLA Ganglion battle, is a lot more concerned with getting through her work quota right now than she is with being flustered in the face of her crush.Irina, well, she has other plans.Self indulgent fluff, set in-game. What's good, yo.





	How Things Start

**Author's Note:**

> Here is your usual informational note: the fics I write take place in a slightly alternate canon in which Male!Cross is found in Starfall Basin and reunites with a younger sister (Female!Cross) early on. That's all you need to follow things properly, so have at and enjoy!
> 
> (Additionally, I am running on very little sleep right now- I gave it a once over, but please excuse any typos or spelling errors. Thank you for reading!)

There are a lot of repairs and maintenance to be done in the immediate wake of the Ganglion attack on NLA. Pip has been swamped ever since the morning after.

During the battle itself she was on civilian protection detail. Ordinarily, she would have tagged along with Elma's team, as she and Thorne are often a package deal for important missions, but orders had come down to her directly from Vandham to keep any noncombatants safe while they evacuated. So she hopped in her skell and did just that.

Every inch of her is sore from all the battering and jostling during her end of the fight, but other than being banged up and exhausted beyond belief, she's fine.

Gwin is helping her out today. He's taking a break from his own missions here and there recently, in the wake of Marcus' fall during the fight. Pip wasn't very close with him, but he was a friend of a friend and it's enough for her to feel contrite for the loss. After all, until they can find and activate the Lifehold Core- he's for all intents and purposes dead.

It's why she lets people hang around and play beast of burden for her so often, really. Busywork is always good for keeping ones' mind off the things that weigh so heavily some days. Thorne, Gwin, and even Doug have played workshop assistant to her before to get their minds off of things. Pip is small and soft in build, so she is always grateful for an extra hand anyway.

Pip has a stereo in her workspace. She plays old hits on it all the time, and Gwin is taking a break from lifting things for her to whistle along to a few favorites and start some paperwork he's been putting off. In the meantime, Pip is using a stick of chalk to scribble equations on the plating of the skell she's doing some (very tedious) repairs on. She and her best friend exchange small talk consistently (usually related to the music, or Pip's habitual muttering about her calculations) and in spite of the circumstances that have led to their hanging out, things are feeling relaxed and peaceful.

Gwin has just gotten up to start moving a couple of heavy parts for her when Irina arrives.

Gwin salutes smartly and greets her, of course- this is the only reason Pip even realizes she's there. She's busy filtering through some more math and troubling herself over part specifications, after all. As much as she likes Irina(okay, it's a big crush. But that's not the point.) she still has work to do. Well beyond just the repairs to this particular machine, even, so she needs to keep at it.

Thus, instead of bothering with a proper greeting, she waves behind her and calls out, “Good morning, Lieutenant.” over the music. Gwin turns it down a few notches just after.

Gwin and the lieutenant proceed to exchange some small talk and Irina seems to be debriefing him on plans for a mission they need to prep for tomorrow, so Pip tunes them back out and keeps working, though her ear is perked just enough to be aware if someone addresses her directly.

She hears Gwin say something in a teasing tone, then an exclamation of “ow, hey!” just after lets her know that Irina punches his shoulder for it. Footsteps follow, a little grumbling- Gwin has huffed his way out of the immediate work area. Pip rolls her eyes and allows herself a half moment to laugh at her friends' banter.

She comes back to earth at least partially when Irina's speaks behind her.

“Pip.” she says shortly. Her tone is the usual one, professional and businesslike. It doesn't necessarily mean anything- that's just how Irina tends to sound.

“Lieutenant Akulov.” she sings in reply. She's still working, though. She's right in the middle of a long string of spec writeups and is having trouble tearing herself away from it entirely.

“What are you doing this evening?”

The question is abrupt, but again, Pip is so distracted by what she's doing that she doesn't really process it properly.

“Probably working.” She admits offhandedly, “Unless something else comes up. It's all hands on deck here right now, so I'm just sticking around even in my off hours so we have as much personnel keeping busy as possible.”

There's a pause. Pip wipes away some old writing and starts another string.

“Want to go out for dinner?” Irina pipes up after a moment.

Pip is still only half listening, so something about her processing of the statement comes out skewed.

“What, with Gwin and the others? Yeah, sure.” she responds carelessly, mind whirring in overtime. Later, she'll kick herself for her uncanny ability to hyperfocus when she's working.

Silence.

 _That_ shakes Pip out of it, because silence means her music has been turned off. She furrows her brow and turns around, only to find Irina so close that she nearly bumps right into her. She looks up in confusion, only to find a very amused smile gracing the interceptor's face.

“No, it would just be you and me.” Irina informs in a laughing tone.

Pip is starting to catch on now, but she still hasn't quite made the connection, and so, intelligently, she responds with an “Uh, what?”

Irina laughs into her hand and Pip's stomach flips.

“Apparently I need to make myself a little clearer.” says the lieutenant, and Pip is about to ask what she means- but then Irina's hand is cupping one side of her face and any intelligent thought she could have managed grinds to a halt.

“Pip.” Irina says seriously, “Let's go on a date.”

There's one, maybe one and a half beats of a pause before Pip's heart jumps from zero to one hundred in about a millisecond. She cups a hand over her mouth to hide the unintelligent squeak of surprise that bubbles forth.

Just like that, she's reverted to how she was when she and Irina first started interacting regularly, red-faced and shaking like a leaf. Oh, this is embarrassing. Also, is she awake right now? She isn't going to sit bolt upright in bed in two seconds, is she? Pip resists the urge to pinch herself, but only barely.

“U-uh.” she stutters, “Um, could you repeat that...?”

First, a quiet breath of a laugh. Irina's hand moves away, but she responds as calmly as ever.

“A date.” She repeats, “You know, where two people who like each other go out and-”

“I know what a date is!” Pip blurts, unbearably flustered. Irina is starting to quiver with suppressed laughter. Pip feels warm all the way to her toes.

She thinks about it for a moment or two- not because she's unsure, just because she needs to gather herself before she can answer properly.

“I...I mean, of course I would.” She finally manages. Her hand has flown to her bangs to tug at them nervously. “...You said dinner, right? Where were you thinking?”

“Something simple.” Irina responds. Her arms are crossed, but she's still grinning(as widely as she does, anyway). “Army Pizza is always a good place, obviously, but whatever you're in the mood for is fine.”

“...r-right. Pizza. Okay, that's fine.” Pip's mind is whirring into overdrive so quickly that she's pretty sure steam is coming out her ears. She'll need to make time to go back to the barracks and clean up a bit and change into clean clothes. Can she offload some of her smaller repair jobs on Lin, she wonders? Knowing her little sister figure it shouldn't be a problem, especially if she explains the situation. Pip immediate puts 'call Lin' on her checklist of things to do once she emerges from the wreckage of this conversation.

“I s-still have some work to do.” Pip informs awkwardly, “I can meet you there around seven?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Irina agrees, “I have prep work to do for a mission anyway.'

Another pause. Irina steps back enough that Pip finally feels like she can breathe again.

“I should let you get back to it.” the interceptor says gently, “I'll see you tonight.”

Pip nods frantically in reply. She's starting to lose the battle against the urge to climb onto the roof and scream for an hour.

She almost faints when Irina takes some of her hair and tucks it behind her ear for her. “All right. Goodbye, then.”

Irina turns on her heel and marches away after that, leaving Pip shaking like a leaf and staring after her in shock, and- and, she might be imagining it, but Irina's ears, from here, look a little red.

Gwin saunters back into the workspace a few moments later. The shit eating grin on his face chases away some of the butterflies. Pip glares at him halfheartedly.

“ _So_.” He says, leaning casually against the work table, “What'd you guys talk about?”

“Cram it, Evans.” Pip spouts, and turns back to her work. Gwin snickers, but he goes back to the work he'd been starting on for her without another word. They both care very deeply for Irina, but luckily for the both of them they also care enough about each other not to compete over it, or let it get in the way of what has become more of a familial bond than just a friendship.

Still, Pip doesn't hesitate to throw her chalk at Gwin when he starts to singsong “Pip and Irina, _sitting in a tree_ ,” like the actual child he is.

 


End file.
